Game 5 – 5:00 ET, AHL Live(Series tied, 2-2)The Western Conference Finals have been reduced to a best-of-three with Oklahoma City hosting Grand Rapids this evening in a pivotal Game 5… The Griffins squared the series at two games apiece with a 4-0 win last night… Petr Mrazek made a season-high 40 saves for his third shutout of the playoffs… Joakim Andersson (1-0-1) and Gustav Nyquist (0-1-1), making their return to the Grand Rapids lineup after Detroit’s elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, combined for the Griffins’ first goal of the night… Riley Sheahan (2-9-11), Landon Ferraro (4-7-11) and Jan Mursak (6-4-10) also scored for the Griffins, and Chad Billins (2-6-8) tallied two assists… Yann Danis (9-5, 2.14, .932) stopped 28 of 31 shots on the night… Mrazek (9-6, 2.08, .921) has a 1.77 GAA and a .949 save percentage in the series… The Barons’ five-game home winning streak came to an end as they lost at the Cox Convention Center for the first time since Game 1 of their first-round series with Charlotte on Apr. 26… Grand Rapids was 0-for-9 on the power play in the first three games of the series, but went 2-for-2 in Game 4… Oklahoma City was 0-for-4 last night and is 1-for-15 this round… The Griffins entered the series having outshot its opponents in each of its first 11 playoff games, but after shots were even in Game 1 the Barons have had the edge on the shot board in Games 2, 3 and 4… Excluding shootouts, Oklahoma City has not lost back-to-back games since a five-game slide from Jan. 6-18… In Calder Cup Playoff best-of-seven series that have been tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has gone on to win the series 100 of 124 times (80.6 percent).

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7) 3-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. 5-Oklahoma City Barons Game 1 – Fri., May 24 – GRAND RAPIDS 2, Oklahoma City 1Game 2 – Sat., May 25 – Oklahoma City 4, GRAND RAPIDS 2Game 3 – Wed., May 29 – OKLAHOMA CITY 4, Grand Rapids 1Game 4 – Sat., June 1 – Grand Rapids 4, OKLAHOMA CITY 0Game 5 – Sun., June 2 – Grand Rapids at Oklahoma City, 5:00Game 6 – Tue., June 4 – Oklahoma City at Grand Rapids, 7:00 *Game 7 – Wed., June 5 – Oklahoma City at Grand Rapids, 7:00 *if necessary… All times EasternAbout Last Night…The Syracuse Crunch advanced to the Calder Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history, winning the Eastern Conference championship with a 7-0 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last night… The Crunch lost Game 1, then outscored the Pens 16-4 the rest of the way, including scoring the final 10 goals of the series… Philippe Paradis, who hadn’t scored a goal since Jan. 11, recorded a hat trick for Syracuse in Game 5… Dan Sexton added a goal and two assists, and defenseman Andrej Sustr and Mark Barberio recorded three assists each… Cedrick Desjardins made 23 saves for his second shutout of the series and his third of the playoffs… Syracuse, 11-1 in the postseason, will have home-ice advantage in the Calder Cup Finals against either Grand Rapids or Oklahoma City… In the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night, 2005 Calder Cup champion Patrick Sharp scored in Chicago’s 2-1 win over Los Angeles in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals… Former Providence Bruin David Krejci scored twice and one-time San Antonio Rampage forward Nathan Horton had a goal and two assists as Boston defeated Pittsburgh, 3-0, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals… Tuukka Rask stopped 29 shots for his first postseason shutout since Apr. 26, 2008, when he was with Providence.

Road WarriorsAHL teams are 29-34 on the road this postseason, but all four conference finalists have winning records away from home:

Eastern Conference Finals HistoryThe Richard F. Canning Trophy is presented each season to the playoff champions of the AHL’s Eastern Conference… Syracuse is the 10th consecutive conference champion to come out of the East Division… Here are the results of the Eastern Conference Finals since the league split into two conferences in 1995-96:

Western Conference Finals HistoryThe Robert W. Clarke Trophy is presented each season to the playoff champions of the AHL’s Western Conference… Either Grand Rapids or Oklahoma City will be the eighth different conference champion in the last eight years… Here are the results of the Western Conference Finals since the league split into two conferences in 1995-96:

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